Wall-mounted display assembly for simultaneously displaying a plurality of items

ABSTRACT

An elongated display assembly for removably inserting and simultaneously displaying a plurality of separate flexible and generally flat items to be displayed comprises an elongated open display housing having a flat back panel with an upper front flange and a lower front flange extending along the length and an upper channel and a lower channel extending along the length between the flat back panel, upper front flange and the lower front flange. The channels are for receiving upper and lower respective edges of items to be displayed. The back panel has an elongated score or notch extending along its length capable of separating the panel into an upper frame member and a lower frame member. The front of the display housing is open for removably securing a plurality of separate display items from the front.

This application is a divisional application of, and incorporates hereinin its entirety, U.S. application Ser. No. 11/013,892, filed Dec. 15,2004.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

Display of personal memorabilia such as photos, children's drawings,various trip or vacation-related items such as tickets, maps, postcardsand the like is often relegated to mounting such items on a wall usingthumb tacks, scotch tape and the like. Seasonal items such as Christmascards are often similarly displayed. Presently, there exists noconvenient frame devices for conveniently mounting and simultaneouslydisplaying such items on a wall in a neat, orderly, efficient,convenient and attractive manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Described herein is a display assembly capable of front loading forremovably inserting and simultaneously displaying a plurality ofseparate and generally flat items comprising an elongated open frontdisplay housing having a flat back panel extending along the entirelength of the housing. A front flange extends along the upper edge fromthe back panel and a lower front flange extends along the lower edge ofthe back panel, an upper and lower channel, respectively, formed betweenthe back panel and the upper and lower front flanges. In one embodimentthe housing comprises an upper frame member and a lower frame memberjoined at each end by end caps. In another embodiment the back panel isscored or notched along its length whereby the panel is capable of beingseparated to produce the upper and lower frame members. Thus, the upperand lower frame members are substantially identical, but are opposites.The front of the elongated display housing is open between the upper andlower flanges whereby a flexible item to be displayed can be easilyinserted directly from the front. A plurality of such items may besimultaneously displayed along the length of the elongated displayhousing. The assembly may also include a transparent flexible cover toprovide protection for the display items. In a further preferredembodiment, end caps are used at each end of the display assembly, theend caps having a feature for maintaining the upper and lower separatedmembers substantially parallel and in maintaining the desired separationor space between the upper and lower members. In another preferredembodiment, the end members are scored or notched whereby the length ofeach member may be selectively altered.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a display assembly of the invention mounted on walls;

FIG. 2 is a front perspective view of a portion of one end of thedisplay assembly;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the assembly illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 illustrate different embodiments of end caps;

FIG. 7 shows display housing ends with an end cap secured; and

FIG. 8 illustrates another embodiment of display assembly mountedadjacent to a door frame.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 illustrates the display assembly 10 described herein installed onwalls 11. A plurality of items 20, 22 and 24 to be simultaneouslydisplayed within the display assembly are shown. Observing also FIGS. 2and 3, the display assembly comprises an elongated housing having a flatback panel 15, an upper elongated flange 12 and a lower elongated flange14, each of which extends the length of the elongated housing. Betweenthe upper and lower flanges and the back panel are upper and lowerchannels 26 and 28, respectively, which provide a space in which theedges of the items to be displayed are received whereby the upper andlower flanges retain and secure the display items. The display assemblycomprises separate upper and lower frame members or a housing comprisinga back panel which is notched or scored along its length so that it canbe separated into upper and lower frame members. Such separate upper andlower frame members are illustrated in FIG. 7. FIG. 2 illustrates ahousing having a scored or notched back panel capable of beingseparated.

As shown in FIG. 2, back panel 15 is scored or notched along its length,notch or score 16 being shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, whereby the housing canbe separated along the score or notch to form separate and separatedupper and lower frame members. The notch or score 16, although shown asformed substantially parallel with the upper and lower flanges 12 and14, need not necessarily be formed as a straight parallel line along theback panel. Instead, it may be saw-toothed or a wave form, or othershaped notch capable of separating the back panel into upper and lowerframe member segments. Such a feature is especially useful to allowdisplay of items having different sizes. For example, where photographsor cards are of a vertical dimension that is greater than the verticaldistance along the back panel which has not been separated along thenotch, the back panel simply can be broken and separated along the scoreor notch to form a space whereby the vertical dimension of the frame maybe adjusted to conveniently fit larger or smaller sized items.

FIG. 3 illustrates the use of a transparent cover 21 which is preferablya flexible transparent film for protecting and further retaining theitems to be displayed. Such a film may include ultraviolet protection toprevent fading of the displayed items as well as to prevent bowing,shriveling, bending, or other deformation of the substantially flatitems once they are inserted and displayed in the housing. Such aflexible and bendable transparent film is made of sheet plastic whichwill return to and retain its substantially flat shape after it isinstalled between the upper and lower flanges to prevent such deformingof the items. Especially where the items to be displayed comprise thinpaper items such as children's drawings or writings, recipes, maps,magazine pages or covers and the like which often sag or are otherwisedeformed when placed in a frame without a cover, the displayed itemswill be maintained substantially flat between the film 21 and the backpanel 15.

The upper and lower flanges 12 and 15 are shown as having substantiallylinear and parallel front edges 19 and 29. However, instead such frontedges may be scalloped or wave-shaped, notched or saw-toothed or anyother desirable design. It is only important that the vertical dimensionof the upper and lower front flanges be sufficient to maintain theinserted items as well as the protective transparent front film inplace. Moreover, the items to be displayed need not necessarily havestraight upper and lower opposing edges, nor do such upper and loweredges of the items to be displayed necessarily need to be parallel orlinear since they will be maintained in place by the transparent plasticcover. The display items may be placed end to end or may be insertedwith spaces between the edges as desired to create any pleasing ordesired display. Moreover, such a display may not necessarily includeitems of the same form or shape, and thus combinations and variations ofdifferent items may be inserted and displayed. For example, items from arecent trip including airline tickets, maps, theater tickets, flags andphotographs may be mixed and matched as desired. Other seasonal displayswhich would include holiday materials and the like may be displayed.

A major advantage of the display assembly is in providing for easy andefficient insertion and removal of one or more of the items to bedisplayed. Because the front of the display housing is open, the itemsto be displayed are front loaded, whereby they can be readily insertedfrom the front at any location along the housing without disassemblingthe housing. Such insertion may be accomplished by slightly orsufficiently bending the items so that they can be tucked behind theupper and lower flanges, separately or simultaneously. Alternatively,the lower frame member may first be secured on the wall, items thenplaced in the space behind the lower front flange, and then the upperframe member lowered to meet and secure the upper item edges. The frontcover may be similarly installed. The front transparent flexible plasticcover 21 may be segmented rather than a single elongated sheet wherebydifferent sections of the housing and items to be displayed or removedcan be readily accessed. Such a feature may be especially desirablewhere the display housing extends along an entire wall or otherwisealong a substantial length.

In another preferred embodiment, the display assembly includes end capsto be inserted at each end of the display housing for securing thehousing, especially useful when the frame comprises separate upper andlower frame members or where the back panel is separated along the notchor score to form upper and lower housing members. Observing FIG. 2,showing the notched back panel embodiment where it is desirable ornecessary to increase the vertical dimension of the display assembly,the back panel is split or separated along notch 16 whereby the housingis separated into an upper member 13 and a lower member 17. As shown inFIG. 7, a space 18 is provided between upper and lower frame members. Tosecure the separate upper and lower housing members in substantiallyparallel arrangement, end caps are used. As shown in FIG. 7, end cap 30is installed at an end of the housing whereby the end cap maintains theupper and lower frame members in a secure and parallel spacedrelationship. Different designs of end caps are illustrated in FIGS. 4,5 and 6. In FIG. 4, end cap 30 comprising an elongated plate 50 with ablock or rib 32 extending therealong is used by positioning the endplate so that upper and lower portions of block 32 are inserted intochannels 26 and 28. The end cap may be formed of a somewhat resilient ordeformable material such as a plastic which can be urged or force fitinto the respective upper and lower end channel openings. Polypropyleneand polyvinyl chloride are examples of such materials. In the embodimentshown in FIG. 4, the end cap is also provided with scores or notches 34which provide for snapping off or, if necessary, cutting off the end capat a desired length so that it will provide the desired secure andspatial relationship between upper and lower housing members asillustrated in FIG. 7. Any number of scores or notches may be used toachieve a number of different useful lengths of the end caps. Althoughthe depth of such scores or notches allow the end cap to be broken byhand to the desired length, such scoring may be actually in the form ofindicia or markings whereby an end cap may simply be cut using a knifeor other useful cutting tool for selecting and achieving the desired endcap length to secure the desired separation of the display housingmembers. It will be understood by observing FIG. 7 that with an end capsecured at each end of the upper and lower frame members, these membersare maintained in parallel alignment with their respective ends alsosecured in vertical alignment

Another embodiment of an end cap is illustrated in FIG. 5 with thepresence of blocks or protuberances 37 along the surface of end cap 36for being inserted into the upper and lower channels 26 and 28 at theends of the housing member. FIG. 6 illustrates yet another embodiment ofan end cap 38 which comprises an elongated bar or slat having a grooveor recess 39 formed along its length into which the ends of the housingmember, including the back panel and upper and lower flanges, may beinserted. Again, a suitable deformable material which may be secured orforce-fit onto the ends of the housing members may be used. The presenceof one or more scores or notches 34 is also present on the end capswhereby the selection of the desired end cap length may be determinedand cut or otherwise separated at the desired notch or score.

In another embodiment the display assembly may be assembled around adoor or door frame and/or around a window or window frame. Such anassembly will include one or more generally horizontal components andone or more generally vertical components with the components alignedand cooperating to frame a door, window or similar structure or feature.Observing FIG. 8, such an assembly is mounted along a wall around a doorusing a horizontal component 50 and vertical components 51 and 52. Thehorizontal component is substantially as previously described and shownin FIGS. 1 and 2. The structure of the vertical components is also thesame except that the upper and lower frame members are mounted generallyvertically, whereby an upper front flange becomes a first vertical frontflange 42 and a lower front flange become a second vertical front flange44. Items to be displayed in the vertical frame member are inserted aspreviously described, edge to edge or spaced apart as desired. Whereedge friction of an item within the channels is insufficient to maintaina desired position, the use of tape behind an item, or along an edgewill be useful.

The material used for the display housing is not so critical so long asit may be secured along a wall or other desired surface on which thedisplay is to be mounted. Plastic is one material which may be readilymolded to the design illustrated whereby the elongated housing can beextruded in any desirable lengths and readily cut and packaged. Ofcourse, different lengths of housing may be selected and may be used andmounted or installed on a wall end-to-end so that multiple lengths maybe used. Examples of suitable plastics include polypropylene andpolyvinylchloride. As also illustrated in FIG. 2, the housing mayinclude vertical notches or scores 40 and 41 at any desirable locationsalong the length whereby the length of the housing may be selectivelyaltered. Again, such notches may be deep whereby the desired length canbe achieved, either by breaking off or otherwise separating the sectionsby hand, or by cutting along the score. Of course, a sufficiently sharpcutting instrument or saw may be used to cut the housing at any desiredlength. FIG. 2 also illustrates the presence of holes 25 which may beformed in the back panel of the housing for installing or securing theelongated housing to a wall using screws, nails or the like. Of course,where the material of which the housing is formed is suitable, nails orscrews may be driven through the back panel at any desired location.Alternatively, the housing may be glued to a wall, or even using aseparating material such as Velcro, or the like.

The following is a list of examples of materials that may be installedand simultaneously displayed in the display assembly described above:

Photographs or pictures,

airline tickets,

sporting event tickets,

CD music covers,

book covers,

children's drawings,

children's writings,

theatre tickets,

recipes,

maps,

flower seed packages,

baseball cards,

postcards,

flags,

stickers,

cutouts,

magazine covers,

blueprints,

invitations,

Christmas cards,

DVD movie covers,

curtain matching fabric, and

combinations of any one or more of the above or other items.

Again, such items are preferably substantially flat and flexible enoughto be bent sufficiently to be inserted between and under the upper andlower front flanges.

1. An elongated display assembly for removably securing andsimultaneously displaying a plurality of separate flexible and generallyflat items to be displayed therein comprising: an elongated open displayhousing comprising an upper frame member having a back panel and anupper front flange extending along the length thereof, and a lower framemember having a back panel and a lower front flange extending along thelength therefore, and an upper channel and a lower channel extendingbetween each said back panel and said upper and lower front flanges,respectively, said upper and lower frame members being of the samelength and separated from one another in parallel alignment with theends thereof aligned along a substantially vertical axis, and an end capmember secured at each end thereof whereby said parallel and verticalalignments are maintained.
 2. A display assembly of claim 1 including aplurality of separate flexible and generally flat items securedtherealong and one or more elongated transparent covers removablysecured along the length thereof between said items and said upper andlower front flanges
 3. A display assembly of claim 1 wherein said endcap members comprise means for altering the length thereof whereby thedistance between the upper and lower frame members may be selectivelyaltered.
 4. A display assembly of claim 1 wherein said end cap memberscomprise an elongated bar or slat having a rib extending therealong forbeing secured in the upper and lower channels whereby the distancebetween separated upper and lower frame members is maintained.
 5. Adisplay assembly of claim 1 wherein said end cap members comprise anelongated bar or slat having a plurality of protuberances therealong forbeing secured in said upper and lower channels whereby the distancebetween separated upper and lower frame members is maintained.
 6. Adisplay assembly of claim 1 wherein said end cap members comprise anelongated bar or slat having a groove therealong for securing said upperand lower flanges therein.
 7. A display assembly of claim 1 wherein saidend cap members are of substantially the same length.
 8. A displayassembly of claim 6 wherein said end cap members are of a length formaintaining substantially parallel upper and lower frame members.